Three things to know about the United Nations’ new HIV/AIDS report

Last week, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released a report showing the world is at a critical moment — one that will determine whether HIV/AIDS is one day eliminated as a public health threat. Since the first case of HIV, which can cause AIDS, was reported in the early 1980s, biopharmaceutical innovation has dramatically reduced death rates and transformed HIV/AIDS into a manageable chronic condition. However, persistent barriers to care and inadequate resource mobilization are endangering that progress.

Here are three things to know:

• Deaths from HIV/AIDS were at a 20-year low in 2023. Fewer people contracted HIV last year than at any point since the late 1980s, and HIV/AIDS-related deaths are at their lowest level since the peak in 2004. Additionally, more people are receiving antiretroviral therapy and are virally suppressed than ever before.
  
  
• Stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS continues to create barriers to care. The global progress made in combatting HIV/AIDS is highly uneven. Gender inequality, stigma and discrimination against marginalized communities are creating barriers to vital testing, treatment and prevention services as we’ve discussed before. These populations represent an increased proportion (55%) of new infections globally compared to 2010 (45%).
  
  
• More work is needed to meet global targets of ending HIV/AIDS. World leaders made a commitment at the United Nations General Assembly in June 2021 to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. UNAIDS makes clear that this goal is within reach, but the global HIV response “is at a crossroads.” The actions world leaders take now will impact people living with HIV/AIDS for decades to come, and we must work together to eliminate widening gaps in its response.

The report notes that “[l]eaders can end AIDS as a public health threat only by overcoming it everywhere, for everyone, a worthy goal." Biopharmaceutical manufacturers to doing our part and remain committed to developing treatments that can further transform the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide.